Big data: Not Everything that is Technically Possible is Legal

Bernd Skiera, Professor of Electronic Commerce, Goethe University Frankfurt

• Analyzing large amounts of data requires not only technical and statistical expertise, but also an economic understanding of the problem in order to draw the right conclusions. According to Skiera, marketing will be the area that will benefit the most from big data.

Thomas Mickeleit, Director of Communications, Microsoft Germany

• The use of big data in corporate communications is important in order to be able to engage in discussions on an equal footing with marketing and management and to shape the direction of the company. Data protection plays a central role, and so personal profiles of journalists cannot simply be created. The most important thing is that users’ data need to be kept safe - this is our currency in the digital age.

Tarek Müller, Managing Director, Collins

• Personalization options made possible via personal profiles and big data are at the core of the Collins’ business model and have led to the success of new online fashion shops such as AboutYou. Big data can also be applied within a company to identify fashion trends or best sellers within individual collections.